by Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway spent more than twenty years of his life living in Cuba. From his home in San Francisco de Paulo, Hemingway often visited Cojimar, the village featured in the novel The Old Man and the Sea. An avid fisherman, Hemingway spent a great deal of his time in Cuba fishing for shark and marlin. His respect for the tireless fishermen of Cuba and their daily struggle for survival upon the sea prompted him to write this novel, which extols the spirit of the individual as well as the virtues of determination and courage.

Events in History at the Time of the Novel

Marlin fishing in Cuba. The waters off the coast of Cuba support an abundance of game fish, most notably marlin, which is also known as spearfish or sailfish. The migratory habits of these fish carry them with the...